‘We own the time’ – the Africa 2020 vision

The dynamics of the fast-changing continent are rapidly shifting. As sub-Saharan states challenge South Africa’s regional dominance, Legal Business asks what the much-touted market will look like five years from now

‘I’m standing saying that those who miss the boat now, will miss it forever. So if you want to be in Africa, think about investing,’ said Nigerian finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, earlier this year in a public speech.

Before most foreigners had become bullish on Africa, Stephen Jennings, founder of Renaissance Capital, who successfully bet on the opportunities in post-Soviet Russia, put it more pithily when he was quoted in 2007 as saying: ‘If Russia was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, sub-Saharan Africa is a second once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.’